Swivel glide for tubular furniture legs



Feb. 5, 1963 F. N REYNOLDS 3,076,221

SWIVEL GLIDE FOR TUBULAR FURNITURE LEGS Filed June 29, 1960 zzvmvron. fi-ederz'cK MReyrza/da ATT United States Patent swrvnr. canon non TUBULAR FURNITURE LEGS Frederick N. Reynolds, Augusta, Ky., assignor to The F. A. Neider Company, Augusta, Ky, a corporation of Kentucky Filed June 29, 1969, Ser. No. 39,494 3 Claims. (Cl. 16-42) Another object of the invention is to provide in a glide having the foregoing characteristics an improved means for cushioning and resiliently holding the glide in operative condition which produces asmooth swivel action for the glide shoe while preventing development of looseness of the moving parts during usage.

Other objects and advantages of my swivel glide for tubular furniture legs will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a'fragrnental, side elevational view of my swivel glide shown in typical attached position on the end of a tubular furniture leg that is shown in fragmental elevation. 7

PEG. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

My improved swivel glide comprises a shoe 5 having a one piece body made of synthetic plastic material. As best shown in FIG. 2 the shoe is formed with a centrally located protuberance 6 which projects upwardly from its upper face and preferably is in the form of a truncated cone. A cylindrical recess 7 is formed centrally in the bottom side of the shoe and terminates within the protuberance in an upwardly and inwardly restricted shoulder portion 8 that forms a hole 9 of reduced diameter with respect to the diameter of the recess. A headed pintle It is mounted for universal movement in the shoe by providing the pintle with a half-round head ll that is disposed in the recess and seats against the shoulder 9, the stem 12 projecting upwardly through the hole 9, through the protuberance and into the lower end of the tubular furniture leg. An upwardly and outwardly flaring recess 13' is formed in the protuberance above and in communication with restricted shoulder portion 9 to provide a clearance for the stern when the shoe is swivelled on the head.

A ferrule 14 for receiving the lower terminal end of a tubular leg 15 is constituted by a generally cup-shaped sheet metal member having a centrally located, downwardly facing, concave socket 16 stamped in its bott'om Wall, said socket being adapted to slidably receive the upper portion of, the protuberance 6 of the shoe to provide, in effect, a ball and socket connection that secures universal movement between the shoe 5 and the ferrule lid. The ferrule isalso provided with an upstanding lower flange portion 17 which snugly encircles the lower exterior end portion of the leg 15, an annular, internal recess 18 being formed between the interior convex surface of the socket 16 and the interiorsurface of the flange portion 17 to receive and support the terminal edge of the leg 15. A hole 19 is formed in the center of the socket 16 through which the stem 12 of the pintle passes, the projected end thereof being surrounded by an expansile member which preferably takes the form of a spring 20. The spring 29 bears at its lower end against the interior convex surface of the socket 16 while the upper end of the spring bears against a stop means generally indicated by the reference numeral 21 and fast on the upper terminal end of the pintle stem 12. As shown in FIG. 2 the stop means is a hollow metal spacer 22 that encloses the spring and is provided with an open bottom end which is normally in close proximity to the interior convex surface of the socket 16. The spacer includes an apertured top wall 23 through which the pintle stem passes, the upper terminal end of the stern being upset at 24 over the wall 23 to maintain the parts in drawn up, assembled positions. The spacer protects the spring against breakage or damaging stresses during use of my swivel glide by reason of the fact that when undue axial force is exerted on the shoe, tending to pull it and the connected pintle stem from the fer-rule, the

spring 25) will be compressed until the open bottom end 2 15 around its uppermost terminal edge. A split retainer ring 27 of hardened metal is positioned within the bulging flange portion 25 and has a downwardly and inwardly inclined body provided around its inner edge with a row of teeth 28. The outer marginal edge of the. re-

1 tainer ring abuts the interior face of the ferrule flange at the intersection of its outwardly bulging portion 25 and the converging lip 26. A resilient washer 2 is held in compression between the underside of the retainer ring 27 and the interior surface of the outwardly bulging portion 25 of the ferrule flange to insure a tight, anti-rattling fit of the ring in the ferrule during use.

It will be understood that my swivel glide unit may be readily applied to the end of a tubular furniture leg merely by forcing the ferrule axially onto the terminal end of the leg, this operation being usually accomplished manually without the use of tools. When the split retainer ring 27 is in a normal, relaxed condition the internal diameter of the circular row of teeth 2% is less than the outside diameter of the leg 15 and as the ferrule is forced onto the leg the retainer ring will be forcibly opened and the teeth 28 of the retainer 27 will penetrate into the exterior surface of the leg and by reason of the inclined position of the ring in the ferrule it will resist extremely great forces tending to withdraw the ferrule from the leg thereby providing an exceptionally strong connection for my swivel glide on the furniture leg.

Various. modifications of my glide may occur to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates and may be made without a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. in a swivel glide for tubular furniture legs the com bination of a shoe, a sheet metal ferrule havinng a bottom, a ball and socket connection between the shoe and the bottom of the ferrule, a pintle having a universal seat in the shoe and projecting through the connection and into the leg, expansile means secured to the projected end of the pintle and bearing against the bottom of the ferrule, said ferrule having an annular recess formed in the bottom around the connection for engaging the lower edge of the leg, and an upstanding flange on the ferrule having a lower portion for snugly receiving the end portion of the leg, said flange having an outwardly bulging upper portion encircling the leg and spaced outwardly therefrom, said outwardly bulging portion terminating in an upwardly converging lip which snugly encircles the leg around its upper edge, a downwardly and inwardly inclined split retainer ring positioned within the bulging flange portion with its outer marginal edge abutting the interior face of the flange at the intersection of its bulging and converging portions, said retainer ring having a circular row of teeth formed on its inner periphery and said row having an internal diameter less than the external diameter of the lower end portion of the leg, and a resilient washer held in compression between the under-side of the retainer ring and the interior surface of the outwardly bulging portion of the flange.

2. In a swivel glide for tubular furniture legs the combination of a shoe, :1 sheet metal ferrule having a bottom, a swivel connection between the shoe and the central portion of the ferrule bottom, said ferrule having an annular recess formed in the bottom around the periphery thereof for receiving the lower end edge of the leg, said ferrule having an upstanding flange integrally connected to the peripheral portion of the bottom and having a lower portion for snugly receiving the end portion of the leg, said flange having an outwardly bulging upper portion encircling the leg and spaced outwardly away from said leg, said outwardly bulging portion terminating in an upwardly converging lip which snugly encircles the leg around its upper edge, a downwardly and inwardly inclined split retainer ring positioned within the bulging flange portion with its outer marginal edge abutting the interior face of the flange at the intersection of its bulging and converging portions, a circular row of teeth formed on the inner periphery of the retainer ring and normally having a diameter less than the outer diameter of the leg portion, and a resilient Washer held in compression between the underside of the retainer ring 7 tion encircling the leg and spaced outwardly away from said leg, said outwardly bulging portion terminating in an upwardly converging lip which snugly encircles the leg around its upper edge, a downwardly and inwardly inclined split retainer ring positioned within the bulging flange portion with its outer marginal edge abutting the interior face of the flange at the intersection of its bulging and converging portions, a circular row of teeth formed on the inner periphery of the retainer ring and normally having a diameter less than the outer diameter of the leg portion, and a resilient washer held in compression between the underside of the retainer ring and the interior surface of the outwardly bulging portion of the flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,440,207 Burns Dec. 26, 1922 1,822,056 Noble Sept. 8, 1931 1,836,534 Herold Dec. 15, 1931 2,444,380 Shimek June 29, 1948 2,484,192 Squiller Oct. 11, 1949 2,757,407 Kramcsak Aug. 7, 1956 2,988,770 Arenson .1 June 20, 1961 3,007,726 Parkin Nov. 7, 1961 

2. IN A SWIVEL GLIDE FOR TUBULAR FURNITURE LEGS THE COMBINATION OF A SHOE, A SHEET METAL FERRULE HAVING A BOTTOM, A SWIVEL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SHOE AND THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE FERRULE BOTTOM, SAID FERRULE HAVING AN ANNULAR RECESS FORMED IN THE BOTTOM AROUND THE PERIPHERY THEREOF FOR RECEIVING THE LOWER END EDGE OF THE LEG, SAID FERRULE HAVING AN UPSTANDING FLANGE INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO THE PERIPHERAL PORTION OF THE BOTTOM AND HAVING A LOWER PORTION FOR SNUGLY RECEIVING THE END PORTION OF THE LEG, SAID FLANGE HAVING AN OUTWARDLY BULGING UPPER PORTION ENCIRCLING THE LEG AND SPACED OUTWARDLY AWAY FROM SAID LEG, SAID OUTWARDLY BULGING PORTION TERMINATING IN AN UPWARDLY CONVERGING LIP WHICH SNUGLY ENCIRCLES THE LEG AROUND ITS UPPER EDGE, A DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY INCLINED SPLIT RETAINER RING POSITIONED WITHIN THE BULGING FLANGE PORTION WITH ITS OUTER MARGINAL EDGE ABUTTING THE INTERIOR FACE OF THE FLANGE AT THE INTERSECTION OF ITS BULGING AND CONVERGING PORTIONS, A CIRCULAR ROW OF TEETH FORMED ON THE INNER PERIPHERY OF THE RETAINER RING AND NORMALLY HAVING A DIAMETER LESS THAN THE OUTER DIAMETER OF THE LEG PORTION, AND A RESILIENT WASHER HELD IN COMPRESSION BETWEEN THE UNDERSIDE OF THE RETAINER RING AND THE INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE OUTWARDLY BULGING PORTION OF THE FLANGE. 